Week Nine, Take One -- Fail!

Well, my first attempt at Week Nine did not pan out. Unsurprisingly. I mean, did I really think that after three days off, including a weekend full of fatty dips and chips and frozen pizzas and cookies and bourbon and beer and shopping while other people took part in physical activity and very little sleep, followed by a Sunday night of booze and cigarettes and very little sleep even though I could already feel myself getting a cold, followed by a Monday during which the actual cold developed, with intense sinus grossness, and my eye became wonky (totally bloodshot -- retina cut from my contacts, or conjunctivitis? Who knows), and I got my period... I mean basically yesterday I felt like I was falling apart. Today didn't feel much better, but I knew if I did not lace up those shoes and get out there, I might never complete Week Nine. So I headed out after some intense procrastination, around 7:30.

It's been nice here, highs of like 36, and it was 32 when I headed out, but I'm a baby and felt really cold. Need I even say that I did not have a very "can-do" attitude? So I ran, and could not stop thinking about how much time I had left/how much farther I had. During the rare times I let go of those thoughts, running was much easier. But my head wasn't in it today and I gave into a walk at about 16 minutes. I probably walked for a minute or two, rounded a corner and began running again. I tacked on an extra minute or so of running to the end, and managed to make it as far (distance-wise) as I had on Friday.

The good news is that most of the ice on the sidewalks has melted. I ran into a few deceptive spots of thin black ice, but I can run without the Yak Trax. Of course, the running track is still under a ton of snow because for whatever reason, that stuff just doesn't melt over there. I can't wait to get back to the track and see how that affects my run. Will it bore the shit out of me? Will my pacing be better? Pray for sunshine and warmth!

Good news though -- my legs are not unbearably sore. They feel pretty okay! Three days off was good for something.

Starting Week Nine over again Thursday -- I will not count this program complete until I can run for 30 minutes three times consecutively! p.s. I really need some spring running clothes...

Damn You, Elusive 25 Minute Run!

Okay, I'm actually not that angry. Today's failure was to be expected. As of yesterday, I felt as though I was getting over this cold. However, this morning I woke up unable to breathe through my nose. It sucks, and it's hard to run when the nose breathing isn't that great. I should go back in time and tell my Sunday self to stop ordering shots of "the cheapest whiskey you have" (actual quote), suggest NOT staying out until 2 a.m., and grab those two cigarettes out of my mouth and crush them beneath my heel. Alas, I am pretty sure I know why the cold is not retreating/why breathing even under normal conditions is kind of an issue right now.

Today was probably my poorest showing in awhile -- I had to take two breaks and each lasted a song, both songs just over three minutes long (I ran to another mix I made for myself -- btw "The Modern Leper" by Frightened Rabbit and "Not Even Jail" by Interpol are great running songs). But you know, what are you going to do when you can't breathe? Not much. I still managed to cover about 2.5 miles in about 25 minutes and 30 seconds. My next run will be either Thursday or Friday (I have tentative plans for Thursday so if I don't feel great, I think I'll move to Friday). Let's see if I can get through the 25 minute run by Sunday at latest!

Regressing?

Phew, my dinner plans were canceled so I was able to run today and I can "finish" this week on Saturday like I really wanted. Still can't run for 25 minutes! I had to walk three times during this run. I ran for about six minutes and then walked for a minute or so. Ran for another two songs, maybe, then walked again. Finally I ran for the last six minutes and added another minute on the end. It's a little frustrating that I ran for twenty minutes already, not to mention the eight minute runs and the ten minute runs, and I can only make six or so right now before interrupting the run.

I'm still just out of breath, I think, which leads to stomach and chest cramps. Boo. I really don't think I'll be moving on to week 8. I'm gonna keep trying week 7 until I can do two 25 minute runs in a row, I think. If possible, I am just going to run every other day until this happens.

I also made two of my own playlists today. I just made sure the first and last songs were ~5 minutes long, and the middle songs added up to about 25 minutes (plus or minus a few seconds). So I listened to one of those during my run, because honestly I kind of hate the week 7 podcast. In the end, after I finish this program, I plan to just make mixes of a certain length (most likely 30 minutes plus a warm up and cool down song) and running to those. I don't want to get bored, so I started making lists of songs and coming up with theme ideas. I can get obsessive and crazy over playlists so I foresee a fun and involved project here.

My shins are hurting again, btw! This time it's kind of my inner shins and I think it might have to do with a pair of boots I wore out last night. By the end of my run I was a wincing, achy, huffy puffy mess. It was exceptionally attractive. I'm not kidding, I think another runner gave me a "what the fuck is up with you?" look. Ah well. Hopefully Saturday will be better!

First Failure + First Injury = Finishing Week Six

Well, things couldn't go smoothly forever. Today was my first failed run. I managed to fail twice, too!

First I should set the scene... I wanted to run yesterday because jumping from two 10-minute runs to a full 25 minute run seemed crazy and I wanted to do this with only one day between. However, I had an interview for a teaching fellows thingy from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm and I was exhausted after. I took a nap and then got some tacos and beer. I then went out, drank like a sailor, smoked 2.5 cigarettes and sang karaoke. I believe I fell asleep on my couch around 6 a.m.

So today, despite sleeping until 3, I was kind of hurting. I'm not sure I drank enough water to make up for my hungover dehydration and I was a little headachy. I had to delay my run by a half hour or so because I discovered that my Zune was dead, too. So I was crabby as well.

I left the house with a severe lack of confidence, visited the park with hopes of running there, found that the snow had melted and refrozen into dangerously bumpy ice, and continued on across the park to the sidewalks I've been running on. Most of them are clear but there are a few areas that are just a sheet of ice, so I was wearing my yak trax. About five minutes into the run, another runner was coming at me from the opposite direction and I was checking her out rather than looking at the situation near my feet; my yak trax caught on some irregularity in the sidewalk (there was no ice there) and I completely wiped out. I landed on my left knee and my right hand; luckily my knee was covered by thick fleecy sweatpants and my hand was covered by a thick glove. Nothing hurt too badly so I got up, assured the other runner that I was fine, and continued on. My knee hurt, but I figured it was just bruised.

So that was my first interruption. My second was just about being a baby. I still have trouble regulating my breathing, perhaps due in part to the occasional cigarette, but also because my nose gets stuffy in the cold and my throat gets phlegmy and no matter how much I spit and blow my nose, this hinders me. Plus, I developed a pretty mean headache during this run, possibly due to dehydration. So about 16 minutes in, I had to switch to walking. I walked for about two minutes and somehow motivated myself to begin running again. I tacked on an extra minute at the end (day one of this week lasts 26 minutes so I was easily able to measure this).

The Running Into Shape website indicates that we should be covering approximately 2.5 miles in 25 minutes. With the fall and the 2 minute walk break, I still made about 2.3 miles in 25 minutes, so that's pretty good. Additionally, this coming week is composed of three 25 minute runs. So I'm not going to repeat anything and I pretty much hope to work up to running for 25 minutes straight by the end of the week. I really hope the park clears up soon because I'd like to be able to run in circles and let my mind wander more, plus I'm not a huge fan of the people I encounter on the street.

By the way, I got home to find that my knee was bloody and swollen. It has continued to swell a bit; I now have a rather large bump that I'll be icing. When I told my sister about my knee, she reminded me that I totally fucked up my knee last January, as well. I was running up an escalator after getting up the el and I tripped on my heavy winter boot. My knee slammed into the spiky edge of an escalator stair and was a bloody mess. I think it was the same knee; apparently this is an annual thing. Just like last year, I took pictures. Here they are: